It was one of those pristine blue-sky New York mornings, and Lara Lundstrom, a 24-year-old account manager at Baseline Financial Services, decided to rollerblade on the Hudson before work. She knew if she was quick, she could get in some sweat time and make it to her job on the 77th floor of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center...
Exposed: The 100-Year-Old Riddle Behind Theft of the Mona Lisa
It all began in 1976 when I read a book about famed Italian Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci. On a page about the Mona Lisa, it said: ‘On August 21, 1911, an Italian workman named Vincenzo Peruggia stole the painting to take to Italy.’ I was immediately hooked. As a recent film school graduate from Temple University in Philadelphia, I...
Bile Bear Farm Horrors: Mother Bear Kills Cub and Then Itself
If the Sarah Mclachlan ASPCA ad for abused animals makes your heart sink, the idea of caged bears kept under inhumane conditions to have their gall bladders milked daily for use as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) might bring you to tears. Even more heart wrenching is a recent report of a mother bear killing her cub and herself to...
Comics: The Return of the Good Duck Artist
He’s widely regarded as one of the most skillful storytellers to have worked in comics—or any medium for that matter—over the course of the past century. His stories have influenced and inspired the work of an uncounted number of his fellow creators from across the globe, including such notable celebrities as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, and yet his name...
The Horsemen: Riders on the Storm
When the doors open on this year’s edition of the annual Wizard World—Chicago show, thousands of fans will flood the show floor, looking for their chance to see and speak with the best and brightest creators in the industry. And, if they look very carefully amongst the various booths and throughout Artists’ Alley, they can meet the rising stars of comics...
An Interview with The Booth At the End ‘s Christopher Kubasik
“I knew people who loved the show were going to love it a lot,” Christopher Kubasik says of his five-episode web series The Booth At the End, “and the people who hated it, would really hate it. I am surprised at the huge middle ground who say, ‘I don’t think I get it. I don’t think I like it. But...
Anonymous vs. Facebook – This Time It’s Personal
I am a Facebook user, though I am pretty resentful about it. It’s become one of those addictive time-sucks that modern technology has forced upon us in order to stay connected with the world, or in this case, friends and family. It’s like the advent of the cell phone, somehow we managed to live without it until we were forced...
The Ghosts Of Wilson’s Creek
The American Civil War is returning to Missouri. Over the weekend of 12-14 August, the Wilson’s Creek Foundation will mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek with a major re-enactment of the engagement, and once again the ground and trees will shake to the roar of cannon and the clatter of muskets. If some of the stories...
A Chat with David Winning, Director of Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil
Medieval Britain, the far-flung Pegasus galaxy, an isolated island inhabited by shipwrecked castaways and sentient dinosaurs – these are just a handful of settings for the numerous feature films, TV series, miniseries, and made-for-TV movies directed by David Winning. Among the many TV series that the award-winning director has worked on is the Canadian supernatural comedy Todd & the Book of Pure...
Bob Dylan Helps Bring Hank Williams’ Lost Notebooks Back from the Dead
It sounds like the name of a noir mystery, and in some regards it is, but on October 4, Bob Dylan’s own rather enigmatic label, Egyptian Records, in a partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Columbia Records will release The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. Only the second title to be released on Egyptian—the wheels of the...